Chains are naturally designed to
hold unto itself before it can be able to take down a victim. Of what use is it
if it can’t hold unto itself? During the early stage of man, the Marxist
believes the primitive stage which dealt in hunting and gathering didn’t have a
legalized body of laws but things went on fine. People were if not extremely
truthful or organized, at least they were able to get things straight to a
particular level.
Societies have a long history of
conflicting ideas, thousands of people having millions of ideas and views. As
the society developed, over the years from the primitive to the feudal stage,
there were needs for chains and embargo to bring about a uniform behavior among
the dwellers which brought the need for rules. Although the law is made by man,
the law in turn makes a man. It is now made an integral part of the society. It
is expected to rule above all.
The law is meant to be the chain
holding the society. A lecturer once said all humans have crime related
intention but since the law is against it we then are forced to concur to the
legal way so as not to be tagged deviant. It a pity that nowadays even the law
can’t hold unto itself not to talk of the populace. We no longer regard it to
be supreme.
There is a need for total
cooperation from the people before something could be called a crime. The whole
society is no longer involved in the decision making body making a lot ignorant
of the laws governing them. We suffer mostly in Nigeria not because we are too
dumb to realize the fact that we are suffering but because we have no idea of
the law. The only thing we know in the normal human rights, like freedom of
speech, freedom of religion to mention a few. Millions don’t know they have the
right to sue the police if they hold them in custody beyond necessary without
any trial. The influential will get people detained for months without trial,
while they keep on begging instead of suing him.
We complain of no money, but
there are ways of getting money around here before people start making use of
it. A young man bought a 5live drink and checked the expiring date, still in
shape. He opened it and figured out that the content is as bad as drainage
water, and the best he could do was to make a video and upload to social media.
It a good thing, but that not the awareness we need. Only a few set of people
would get to see it. He could have sued them and make his millions then
everyone would be aware and start making money out of it so this manufacturers
would stop killing us
We are faced with the reason the
populace find it difficult to follow the rules. The youths of today are either
watching a crime grow or making one. We then ask, why the madness. Other discipline
might just see the problem to be just enforcement problem and the rest but as a
Sociologists, am telling you it not only the enforcement that is faulty.
Imagine if a local government is moving in his car and the traffic light asks
him to wait? He won’t, even a president will not ask his convoy to wait for
traffic and such a thing emaciates a different thing to the people. If the head
of executive arm can break the law they also can try it out and it becomes a
norm. But this people will never do that in a foreign country, they will gladly
listen to a security guard over there.
Apart from that, there is no
structure to encourage patriotism. A man who does follow the law is never
appreciated rather be condemned, and belittled only if he is eventually recognized.
Such a thing does not give a good impression about serving the country. Even those who are on the EFCC blacklist were
retained under the federal government service, while those who have the
potential and a clean record were discarded. Ignoring the law has being able to
bring merit both in the politics world and economy institution. As long has the
offenders are not being apprehended and punished, the chain will no longer hold
the people for long.
We Nigerians get to appeal more
to emotions rather than reality, we are easily swayed. With just a tap we would
be completely under compulsion without any thought of our own. Few years back
whenever we are having a class, students will just come in and express that the
venue has being changed. Over a thousand students would run from the previous
venue, while another will come with the same news to confuse us again that it
has being changed. Before we know it we would have being completely exhausted
with some students trampled upon already, simply because we didn’t reason for
ourselves. We could have checked the time table and examined the hall capacity
if it favorable enough. Even if the lecturer wants it that way we can let him
know we are against it and state our reasons. But no one cares simply because
we are too busy thinking about the front sit.
With such an orientation, we
would continually be chained like dogs by those who hid the truth from us. People
who go to workplace without reading the rules and regulation would be sacked
later and blamed the board for not telling them the right thing. For us to use
the chains in this society wisely, we need to know them. Having something and
being ignorant of it is the same has never having it.
We just don’t have to wait for
people to tell us our rights, even as kids under parents have their own rights.
Because the generation before us never cared about it neither are we
recognizing it. It will go off radar if our generation don’t make use of this
power in the 21st century. We are in this condition because we don’t
know the power the constitution has given to us. As a result of fear we will
never make use it. My HOD was driving one day a
and a police officer demanded for this papers, knowing it accurate he
handed it over and the officer had no leverage over him. So he indirectly asked
for a bribe and he refused. As a criminologists, he knows the repercussion of
handling him bribe. He knows they will see it as their right and might end up
being a part of our constitution. He could only do that because he had no
criminal intentions. I laughed at a man who was arrested because he named his
dog Buhari, simply because they know he does not know his rights.
The Christians’ holy book laid
emphasis on the need of the truth for it sets one free. We are all scared of
both knowing the truth and making use of it. Only a few who do know it make
good use of it, because those who know
it are not always victims or not in position to use it. Being a scholar does
not mean you know your right while being illiterate does not deprive one of
making use of one’s right. The few who know it are always respected and note it
not meant only for the lawyers to know but we all.
Writer: Adenikan Solomon
